FX's 'American Horror Story' Caps Strong Season as Night's Top Scripted Show in Demo

January 30, 2014|Rick Kissell | Variety

FX's "American Horror Story" scared up largest audience since October on Wednesday as it wrapped its highest-rated season yet .

"American Horror Story: Coven," the third edition of the "Horror Story" franchise, averaged a 2.2 rating/7 share in adults 18-49 and 4.24 million viewers overall, according to Nielsen, up week-to-week by about 25% in both the demo and total viewers.

This was the show's top-rated season finale to date, outpeforming last year's "American Horror Story: Asylum" by 69% in 18-49 (2.2 vs. 1.3) and 85% in total viewers (4.24 million vs. 2.29 million). Among all episodes to date, "Horror's" highest-rated remains its "Coven" premiere last October (3.05 rating in 18-49 and 5.54 million total viewers).

"Coven's" finale made FX the No. 2 network among adults 18-49 on all of television during the 10 p.m. hour, behind only A&E's combo of "Duck Dynasty" and "Wahlburgers." And it ranked No. 1 among all scripted skeins on the night in 18-49, topping shows including original episodes of NBC's "Law & Order: SVU" and ABC's "Nashville."

For the television season to date, "American Horror Story: Coven" ranks among the top 20 shows on television in adults 18-49 and among the top 5 in cable. Among scripted basic cable series, only AMC's "The Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad" rate higher in the demo.

In Live+7 for its first 10 episodes this season, "Horror" averaged 7.2 million total viewers and a 4.0 rating in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen.